It used to be, said Lucia Cronin, that a parent leading the local Cub Scouts would call the school principal. They’d set up a date to come in during recess or at the end of lunch one day and give a short pitch to kids about fun and friends and campfires. 

“I gave many a talk like this myself,” said Cronin, whose 29 years of involvement with Scouting began with her being a den mother for her kids and led to her being the chair of the support structure that helps Cub Scout packs in Wisconsin, Illinois and the U.P. pull off the Pinewood Derby without a hitch. 

“The principal would welcome us with open arms,” she said, and all it involved was five minutes a year of noninstructional time. “Easy-peasy,” she said. “And that’s the way it worked across the state of Wisconsin.” 

If voters approve two constitutional amendment questions this coming August, Wisconsin would join 34 other states whose governors and legislators have authority over major federal funding allocations, according to a Badger Institute review of several government data sites.

Although much of the federal money that flows into Wisconsin is spent through our state budget and already requires legislative approval, members of the Assembly and Senate currently have no authority over billions in additional federal funding.

The lack of legislative oversight became particularly apparent during the pandemic.

Segment begins around 40:38

Early in his first term, Gov. Tony Evers tried committing Wisconsin to rejecting all fossil fuels as a source of electricity by 2050, an aim the Legislature rejected, but one that the governor has since pursued with executive orders. As context, Wisconsin still obtains the majority of its electricity from such conventional types of fuel. Which fossil fuels predominate, however, has changed in recent years.

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